The present invention relates to a network management system which can monitor faults such as hang-up and service stop of service units in a network to control program start and stop, and more particularly to a network management system which can notify a manager unit of the condition of a fault occurring in a service unit in a network system to control starting and stopping of the service unit by instructions of the manager unit.
Hitherto, for example, prior art such as xe2x80x9cnetwork systemxe2x80x9d described in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No.Hei 6-62006 and xe2x80x9cnetwork resource monitoring systemxe2x80x9d described in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No.Hei 6-266635 have been known as network management technique.
By the way, in the fault monitoring technique in network management of the xe2x80x9cnetwork resource monitoring systemxe2x80x9d described in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No.Hei 6-266635, fault information of which manager units (monitor units) are informed is not recorded in a server unit. For example, a manager unit started after the server unit fault occurs, differs from other manager units in displayed information or cannot keep track of fault source or progress. Thus, the manager unit needs polling the server units, increasing network traffic.
A unit for issuing a fault information notification needs to be preset; such a configuration has disadvantages in that while another manager unit is monitoring server unit or executing a predetermined service, the fault information destination cannot be changed.
In the xe2x80x9cnetwork systemxe2x80x9d described in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No.Hei 6-62006, if a plurality of manager units (monitor units) exist on a network, when a server unit goes down, each manager unit needs polling to know that the server unit is restarted. Thus, as the manager units increase, network traffic increases and a load in the system increases. In a system unit of a workstation where the manager unit operates, polling is always performed so that execution of other programs is hindered.
It is therefore a first object of the invention to provide a network management system which can manage information from service units and notify manager units, which made a notification request, of information to easily monitor server units from the manager units, so that the information difference among manager units is eliminated. It is a second object of the invention to provide a network management system which can notify a manager unit of the state of fault occurring in a service unit in a network system and control starting and stopping the service unit by instructions of the manager unit.
To these ends, according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided, in a network system wherein a plurality of server units and a plurality of manager units for managing the server units are connected to a network, a network management system which notifies the manager units of a state detected in each of the server units in the network system for monitoring service of the server unit, characterized in that each of the server units comprises destination storage means for receiving a fault notification request from one of the manager units and storing the manager unit as a destination, notification means, when fault occurs in the service unit, for sending fault information indicating contents of the fault to the destination, and means for controlling start and stop of the service unit.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided, in a network system wherein a plurality of server units and a plurality of manager units for managing the server units are connected to a network, a network management system which notifies the manager units of a state detected in each of the server units in the network system for monitoring service of the server unit, characterized in that each of the server units comprises destination storage means for receiving a notification request from one of the manager units and storing the manager unit as a destination, means for detecting program stop of a service unit, notification means, when the detection means detects the program stop of the service unit, for sending information indicating contents of the event to the destination, and means for controlling start and stop of the service unit. According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided, in a network system wherein a plurality of server units and a plurality of manager units for managing the server units are connected to a network, a network management system which notifies the manager units of a state detected in each of the server units in the network system for monitoring service of the server unit, characterized in that each of the server units comprises destination storage means for receiving a fault notification request from one of the manager units and storing a destination of the manager unit to which a filter condition is given, filtering means for selecting fault information contents in accordance with the filter condition, notification means, when fault occurs in service, for sending fault information indicating contents selected by the filtering means to the destination, and means for controlling start and stop of service by instructions of the manager unit.
In the first aspect of the invention, in the network system wherein a plurality of server units and a plurality of manager units for managing the server units are connected to the network, the network management system notifies the manager units of the state detected in each of the server units in the network system for monitoring service of the server unit. Each of the server units comprises destination storage means, notification means, and control means. When the notification storage means receives a fault notification request from one of the manager units and stores the manager unit as a destination, if fault occurs in the service unit, the notification means sends fault information indicating the fault contents to the destination. The control means controls starting and stopping the service unit, for example, by instructions from the manager unit receiving the information.
Thus, if each manager unit previously issues a fault notification request to the service units, when fault occurs in one of the service units, the manager unit can receive a fault notification from the service unit and need not execute polling for monitoring the service units, avoiding waste of computer and communication resources. When receiving the fault notification, the manager unit can instruct the control means to stop other unnecessary service units and start other necessary service units in response to the fault notification contents.
In the second aspect of the invention, in the network system wherein a plurality of server units and a plurality of manager units for managing the server units are connected to the network, the network management system notifies the manager units of the state detected in each of the server units in the network system for monitoring service of the server unit. In this case, in the server unit, the destination storage means receives a notification request from one of the manager units and stores the manager unit as a destination. The detection means detects the service unit program stopping. When the service unit program stopping is detected, the notification means sends information indicating the contents of the event to the destination. The control means controls starting and stopping the service unit.
Thus, if each manager unit previously issues a notification request to the service units, when one of the service units stops providing service, the manager unit can receive a service stop notification from the service unit and need not execute polling for monitoring the service units, avoiding waste of computer and communication resources. When the service unit stopping is detected, a notification to the effect is sent. Thus, in the server unit, if the service program in the service unit detects abnormal end, it can also be restarted by the control means without notification.
In the third aspect of the invention, in the network system wherein a plurality of server units and a plurality of manager units for managing the server units are connected to the network, the network management system notifies the manager units of the state detected in each of the server units in the network system for monitoring service of the server unit. The destination storage means in the server unit receives a fault notification request from one of the manager units and stores the destination of the manager unit to which a filter condition is given. The filtering means selects the fault information contents in accordance with the filter condition. When fault occurs in service, the notification means sends fault information indicating the contents selected by the filtering means to the destination. The control means controls start and stop of service by instructions of the manager unit.
Thus, the network management system of the invention enables each manager unit to uniformly manage service information from the service units and can eliminate the information difference among the manager units. If the service program in the service unit goes down, automatically it is restarted and a fault notification is only issued. The manager units need not execute polling for detecting service starting. Further, when it is restarted, automatic reconnection is also made in accordance with a notification request instruction from the manager units, so that the contents to be managed by the manager units do not become complicated.